A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or may contain material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device having a game terminating condition and a plurality of game choices, wherein the choices have a varying probability of contributing some or all of the game terminating condition.
Known gaming machines have go-until or do-until games in which a player has one or more opportunities to select masked bonus awards from a pattern or group of masked awards displayed to the player. When the player selects a masked award, the player receives the value of the award, and the game enables the player to select another masked award. The player selects another masked award and the process continues until the player selects a masked terminator. European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a bonus scheme of this type.
In one known do-until game, the probability of selecting a game terminator is established by the total number of game terminators and the total number of selections in the pattern or group of masked awards and masked terminators. The probability of success or failure remains constant from game to game. It is desirable to provide a game that enables the player to select and achieve awards until reaching a game termination condition, wherein the selections up to the game termination condition have varying success or failure probabilities.
The present invention involves a gaming device and preferably a bonus round of a gaming device, which enables a player to accumulate awards until the processor of the gaming device randomly generates and accumulates each component of a predetermined game ending condition. The apparatus or game includes a processor and a display device connected to the processor. The display device displays a plurality of choices to the player.
The game associates an award with each choice. The game also associates a database or table with each choice, wherein the database or table includes a plurality of components having varying percentages of a game ending condition or advancement toward a game-ending condition. The game generates one of the varied components upon a player""s selection of a choice. The database is preferably weighted, such that at least one component is more likely to be randomly generated than at least one other component. The game maintains a predetermined termination condition, whereby the game ends when the game generates a component or components, which alone or in combination equal or exceed the game termination condition.
In a preferred embodiment, the game termination condition is a number and a component is some fraction or portion of the number. In another embodiment, the condition is a whole shape, such as a circle, and a component is a pie shaped wedge having a certain percentage of the circumference of the circle. In both examples, the game ends when the components satisfy a condition.
The preferred embodiment of the game also includes a touch screen having separate player selectable areas that enable the player to select and input a choice. Alternatively, the game includes one or more electromechanical input devices that enable the player to select and input a choice. The game also includes an award database, which is likewise suitably weighted, whereby the processor randomly assigns an award from the database to each player selection.
In one embodiment, the display includes a path having a plurality of positions, wherein a randomly generated component or number corresponds to a change of at least one position along the path, and wherein the game termination condition corresponds to a net change of positions along the path. The display alternatively includes a plurality of components or items, wherein the randomly generated components correspond to an addition or subtraction of at least one item, and wherein the game termination condition corresponds to a net addition or subtraction of items.
In one embodiment, the game adds the generated components, e.g., numbers or items, starting from zero. After setting a count initially to zero, the game enables an input to be sent to the processor upon a player""s selection of one of the displayed choices. The game randomly generates a component upon the input from a preferably weighted database associated with the selection. The game adds the generated component to the count. The game awards the player if the updated count is below the predetermined game termination condition. The game ends if the updated count is equal to or greater than the game terminating condition. The game repeats this process until the updated count is equal to or greater than the game terminating condition.
The game alternatively sets an initial non-zero count and updates the count by subtracting the generated components associated with the player""s choice selections. In this embodiment, the game preferably sets the game termination condition to zero components and thereby counts down from the initial count of components to zero components. In either case, the present invention includes setting different game ending conditions in different games of the present invention.
The awards of the present invention vary in value. The game preferably randomly assigns awards to player selections. The assignments are preferably weighted, such that the game generally knows, before the assignments, which choice will be associated with which award. The game therefore contemplates enabling the player to select choices in a predetermined order, whereby the player initially selects choices that are most likely associated with a lower valued award. In a further embodiment of the present invention, the game provides awards related to the varying probability of a component contributing to the game-terminating condition. The award may be equal or unequal to the percentage of a termination condition provided by the component.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide a gaming device having a game terminating condition and a plurality of game choices, wherein the choices each produce a component having a varying probability of contributing to some or all of the game terminating condition.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.